mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Beaver Gone. To Conference USA.

Tulsa received a quarterback commitment Friday afternoon when Shavodrick Beaver announced he'd sign at the University of Tulsa. Beaver, a 6-foot-3, 185-pounder, is from Wichita Falls (Texas) Rider High School,and has been ranked the eighth-best quarterback in the country by rivals.com. Beaver had given a commitment to the University of Michigan, but switched to TU after a home visit by TU coach Todd Graham.

This seems like completely farfetched crap, but Rivals has an article with quotes($) up, too. WTF? This one really bothers me because for months Beaver's been called up and has said things like "I'm ten thousand percent committed!" Man up and admit you're wavering.

Michigan now needs to scramble for a second quarterback in the class. They've been recruiting FL QB Denard Robinson and may look to get involved with WVU/Tennessee decommit Tajh Boyd; expect Eugene Smith to get a phone call, too.

Gonna be really hard to keep that up when you've got a kid lying right to our faces like this.

I'm pretty sure "People said I'm not coming, but I'm coming. Tell them I'm coming." is going to stick in our craw for some time. This is just...ugh. There's no way to defend or spin this. Beaver pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.

I'm just of the opinion that if anything, you should be angrier about Tulsa's coaches sliding in on a "committed" recruit. It's an 18 year old kid, he's looking out for his best interests. He may believe that he has a better chance of becoming a good C-USA QB than becoming a starter at UM.

Yeah, its shitty that he lied to people paid to be interested in where he's going. From all accounts, it was a spur of the moment decision. We may yet get a chance to win him back.

Didn't know he was still planning to enroll early. Not that it's surprising.

Still, I think it was more of a spur of the moment decisions. From what TomVH was saying about how he changed his comments from day-to-day or week-to-week, he could just as well change his mind tomorrow.

I'm still not going to lynch the kid or the Tulsa coaches.

Recent recipient of the First Annual Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence

I hope nobody bashes the Tulsa coaches because if they did they would be hypocrites seeing as though we absolutely fucking loved it when Rich Rod stole Roy Roundtree from Purdue and Ricky Barnum from Florida.

This is Michigan.

Josh Helmholdt
TheWolverine.com Recruiting Analyst
Talk about it in The Fort

Speculation has followed Wichita Falls (Texas) Rider quarterback Shavodrick Beaver around since the four-star quarterback made his decision to commit to Michigan last spring. Now the 6-3, 185-pound passer is ready to put it all behind him and enroll in school.

"The plan is to come in January 5th for orientation," Beaver said. "This is the last week of school and I've got finals to take. I've got to make sure I maintain good grades on those.

Beaver plans to arrive in Ann Arbor on Jan. 5 for orientation "To be able to enroll second semester I took English as a summer class because it would have taken all year to take it in school. That was about it. Then I just had to finish my senior year classes. You've got to have 24 core credits to graduate and I'm well beyond that."

Beaver admitted earlier in the process that there was a point last summer when he started to reconsider his decision, but he came to the conclusion that Michigan was still the place for him. That sentiment was reaffirmed after his official visit to Ann Arbor in October, but Beaver still could not shake questions about the strength of his commitment.

"People were saying I wasn't coming, but I'm coming," Beaver remarked. "I chose Michigan because they really need a quarterback who can run that system and they need leaders out there.

"I'm just laid back and I'm happy because I'm continuing my success. I'm going in with a positive attitude. My goal is to go on, be a leader on the field, in the classroom and in the workout sessions. I'm going to keep hitting the books and fight for a job everyday for the next four years."

A promising senior season at Rider was cut short by an injury to his non-throwing shoulder that required surgery. Beaver was in a sling during his official visit to Michigan, but said progress on his rehabilitation is on schedule.

"At this point, (the doctor) says I am ready, I'm healing fast, I'm getting my strength back up and I'll be ready to go pretty soon," Beaver said. "I'll be back before workouts with the team in March."

Throughout the process, Beaver has been one of the more social commitments on Michigan's list. He has kept in contact with most of the Wolverines' recruits and looks forward to joining up with them next month.

"I've been talking to some of the recruits, mainly the ones who are coming in early," Beaver said. "They're all pretty cool and we're like family now. I've been seeing who they are rooming with. I'll just see when I get there because it doesn't matter to me. We'll be seeing each other no matter where we stay."

Rivals.com ranks Beaver as the No. 202 player in the country, the No. 8 dual-threat quarterback and the No. 23 prospect in the state of Texas.

Eh, whatever. I tend to take this more of a sign that Beaver didn't think he was going to be the starter next year at Michigan, in which case it would be unlikely that he ever would be. In that sense I think it's hard to blame him.

You know, I felt reassured after reading the Rivals piece the other day about Beaver, and now those words have me thinking: Does anyone still honor their word? I understand these guys are young, but when I give someone my word, I mean it. I don't change my mind if something happens down the road. Granted, I'm irritated right now, and I probably need to take a shit, but commitments still mean something to me. Anyone have toilet paper?

Tell your father I'm here, and tell him the Lannisters aren't the only ones who pay their debts.

Tulsa??? There is something more to this. I mean Tulsa? If he committed to another major conference school I would get it, but C-USA??? Something is up. Either:

1) We are onto someone else we want more and let him know he should look elsewhere;

2) His arm/shoulder is not doing well and Michigan started talking to him about red-shirting or playing wide-out. Seems this could be the case since he didn't end up at other major school - course it was his non-throwing arm right?;

3) He lacks the metal to play in the major conferences and chickened out;

4) He wants to stay "close to home" but is not good enough for OU, Oakie State, Texas, etc.;

5) He got paid (just raw speculation on my part);

6) We have sunk that low that we rate eqaully w/ Tulsa.

If 1 through 5 are the case then I guess I don't care all that much.

If 6 is the case - we'll damnit that is just not the freaking case so screw him.

Either way, now is the perfect time for the guy in the "Wizzard's Hat" to rub some "Snake Oil" on another QB. We also really need Tate. I just can't take another year of the "Nick and Steve Show."

Is there anyone "in the know" who can say what happened? Is there a chance that this is just all BS?

“Your satisfaction lies in your illusions/ But your delusions are yours and not mine”

Heres my take. I imagine the Beav can read. Maybe he was intimidated by Forcier coming in the same year, even enrolling early perhaps. Maybe, just maybe, he didn't like his chances of beating out Threet, the incumbent, AND Forcier, the OTHER hotshot freshman. Im thinking Taj Boyd and Eugene Smith may be rethinking their choices. Hopefully one of them has enough confidence to think they could emerge from the impending scrum for the starting QB job at UM. Im thinking Beaver didn't like the idea that if he did get beat out, then what? 4 years on the bench after a redshirt, then maybe 1 year as the starter.

Another possible alternative. Can it be that he was that scared by Nick and Steve and another Freshman?? If he was, I guess I don't care much about the decomit. I like my QBs to believe that they are the best no matter what.

“Your satisfaction lies in your illusions/ But your delusions are yours and not mine”